EU businesses updated with favourable policies from Vietnam

The relevant ministries, sectors and localities in Vietnam have cut over 5,000 administrative procedures to facilitate small and medium enterprises in entering the market and operating in Vietnam.

Minister, Head of the Government's Office Mai Tien Dung speaks at the dialogue meeting. (Credit: VGP)
Minister, Head of the Government's Office Mai Tien Dung speaks at the dialogue meeting. (Credit: VGP)

The statistics were announced by Minister cum Head of the Government's Office Mai Tien Dung at a dialogue meeting on January 22 to update mechanisms and policies related to the business operations of European enterprises in Vietnam.

Minister Dung said that the event is part of the Government's and the Prime Minister's directions towards reforming mechanisms, policies and administrative procedures in order to help businesses remove barriers concerning their operation, thus cutting the cost and increasing business efficiency.

He emphasised that in order to create favourable conditions for enterprises to do business in Vietnam, the Government has issued decisive directives in directing the management of socio-economic development.

In 2018, the Government requests relevant ministries, sectors and localities to continue focusing on improving the business environment indicators, boosting productivity and competitiveness and striving to put Vietnam on par with the ASEAN-4 group (including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines) in terms of competitiveness and business environment.

Representatives from European businesses at the conference. (Credit: VGP)

This year Vietnam also targets to reduce and simplify 50% of the specialised inspection procedures, while removing and simplifying 50% of business investment conditions.

At the conference, the EU businesses made recommendations focusing on taxation, intellectual property rights, healthcare, and other legal issues related to trade and foreign investment.

Nicolas Audier, Co-Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, expressed his pleasure that the Vietnamese Government has listened to business opinions and made appropriate adjustments.

He hoped that after the dialogue, most of the proposals would be handled by the Vietnamese side in the immediate future or by the end of the year when the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement comes into effect.